And the statistics? They’ll leave a Calgary Flames fan feeling like the Grinch.

But it’s hard to ignore the team’s penchant for allowing late goals in the late stages of periods. In fact, it’s happened in 24 of 34 games played this season; over 70 per cent of the time, the Flames allow a doozy late in the game. Thirty-three of their 99 goals allowed in regulation have been scored in the final five minutes.

Their record when giving up those crucial, often-decisive markers is 10-12-2, which is predictable in many ways. To put it into seasonal context: a late goal allowed is like getting coal in your stocking. It’s deflating, disappointing and can ruin Christmas. Or, in hockey at any level, it can simply change the outcome of a game.

On home ice, the Flames’ statistics are just as telling. They’ve allowed at least one late goal in a period 11 times on home ice. That’s 11 out of 18 games at the Scotiabank Saddledome where their overall record is 8-10-0.

“Those are important critical times of the game,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan. “I think we’ve addressed our record when we’re leading after two. I think we’re the best team in the National Hockey League when we’re leading after two over the last 100 games. Giving up goals late in periods and late in games, when you are tied — it’s something we have to work through.”

The trend started in October with Connor McDavid’s hat-trick marker — albeit, an empty-netter — with 59 seconds left in the third period of a 3-0 loss. It continued from there.

They allowed two late goals on Oct. 13 at home versus the Senators, one with 45 seconds left in the first period and another with 1:17 remaining in the second. That eventually led to a 6-0 loss (with another late goal, Ottawa’s sixth, coming with 3:37 left).

On Oct. 25, a 5-2 loss at St. Louis, they allowed three late tallies including a crucial one with 2:33 left in the first period to tie the score 1-1 and, with Calgary down only 3-2 in the third period, Paul Stastny’s marker with 3:32 left the third basically sealed the deal. Joel Edmundson had the empty netter.

Then, earlier this month, a 7-5 loss to the Oilers on Dec. 2 saw the visitors strike in the final five minutes in all three periods — Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’s third period goal with 1:01 remaining came, disappointingly, after the Flames had rallied with four straight goals to nearly complete the comeback.

But, prior to Sunday’s dominant 6-1 win over the Canucks (which did not feature any late goals given up by the Flames), the Flames were able to bounce back against the Canucks in a 4-2 win after allowing Vancouver’s powerplay to score with less than a minute left in the second period.

“They do shift the momentum sometimes,” Giordano pointed out. “I think we’ve actually done a good job lately of coming back. Last time we played Van, they got a late one in the third and we came back and stuck with it.”

But often times, they’re mood killers.

“You don’t want to give those up,” he added. We’ve gotta tighten up that area. Overall, the last five or six games, we’ve played well. we haven’t been getting as many points as we’d like, obviously.

“But we’ve been pretty solid lately.”

If you’re looking for some type of pattern — there isn’t any.

They had a 3-5 record in October when opposing teams score late in periods while they surrendered late goals in eight out of 12 games in that month.

In November, nine out of 13 of their games saw late frame letdowns with their record being 6-3 in those games.

In December, seven out of their nine games played so far have featured late goals with their record an abysmal 1-4-2.

To break those numbers down even further, 13 of their 31 goals allowed in the first period happened in the final five minutes. Eleven of their 32 total second period goals allowed happened in that time frame. And, surprisingly, only nine of their 36 third period goals allowed happened in the final stages of the game.

“You put it on the table and you mention it,” Gulutzan said. “You make guys aware of it on the bench. And that’s about all you can do.”

Meanwhile, it’s the captain’s job to spread the message in the dressing room. Giordano said it’s something they’d like to clean up in the final two games before Christmas (Wednesday versus St. Louis and Friday against Montreal) along with the team-goal of cleaning up their man-advantage and sharpening up their penalty kill.

“Don’t show any frustration and try to keep the guys positive,” Giordano said. “There’s no secret our special teams have hurt us. Our powerplay has hurt us a little bit the last few games. You can’t be frustrated and if you go out frustrated, it’s going to get worse. So, just play loose and try to get one early.”

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